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DEC  C     1919 


THE  CONSPIRACY 
AGAINST  MEXICO 


St/  ARTHUR  THOMSON 


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^  THE  CONSPlPvACY 
i  AGAINST  MEXICO 


i    By    ARTHUKTHOMSON 


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Bsncroft  Library  DEC  £     1919 

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THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST 
MEXICO 


my  ARTHUR  THOMSON 


That  there  is  a  conspiracy  against  Mexico  is  plainly  evident  to 
all  who  even  in  a  very  superficial  manner  have  studied  the  facts.  The 
cry  of  Wall  Street  and  its  kept  press  is  for  intervention  by  the  United 
States  and  subsequent  annexation  to  this  country.  The  American 
financial  powers  are  unanimous  in  demanding  that  the  "unsettled 
state  of  affairs  below  the  Rio  Grande  cease."  Their  representatives 
in  Congress  have  voiced  their  opinions  in  no  uncertain  terms  that 
intervention  is  necessary  if  American  Big  Business  is  to  survive  in 
Mexico.  British  oil  and  other  interests  are  likewise  of  an  opinion 
that  United  States  troops  must  go  into  Mexico  and  clean  up  things 
so  as  to  make  it  safe  for  Capital.  The  American  oil  octopus  in  Mexico 
has  been  plotting  for  some  time  and  is  still  at  it. 

Now  what  are  the  facts  concerning  Mexico?  Is  it  governed  by 
bandits,  as  one  paper  says,  and  "devastated  by  the  clashing  interests 
of  a  half-dozen  cut-throat  leaders?"  Are  the  people  too  ignorant  and 
incapable  of  self-rule?  Was  the  dictatorship  of  Porfirio  Diaz  a  bless- 
ing in  disguise  for  the  peons  and  a  necessity  under  the  circumstances? 
Is  it  necessary  for  the  United  States  to  intervene  and  either  establish 
a  "real  government"  or  else  annex  the  country?  These  are  questions 
which  are  frequently  discussed  and  which  we  propose  to  answer 
according  to  the  facts  made  known  by  unbiased,  truth-loving  investi- 
gators and  not  according  to  the  "facts"  of  petroleum-smelling  and 
other  propagandists  with  an  axe  to  grind. 

So  that  we  may  properly  understand  the  events  of  recent  years  in 
Mexico,  let  us  go  back  one  hundred  years  or  so  to  the  time  when 
Mexico,  or  Nueva  Espana,  as  it  was  then  known,  was  ruled  by  Spain. 

MEXICO    ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS   AGO 

Prior  to  its  independence  Mexico  was  ruled  for  three  hundred 
years  by  Spain.  "Society,"  say  the  writers  of  one  book,  "was  divided 
into  three  strata.  At  the  top  stood  the  privileged  Spanish  class  of  big 
land-owners,  comprising  the  Church  and  Aristocracy.  This  class 
dominated  the  entire  life  of  the  country,  and  used  the  government 
and  army  merely  as  a  means  to  m.aintain  their  supremacy.  Far  below 
tltQm  lao^  the  small  and  insignificant  middle  class  ofi  mixed  Spanish 


4  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO 

and  native  Wood — ^the  intellectuals,  petty  professionals,  and  merchants, 
who  craM'led  at  the  feet  of  the  wealthy  in  the  ever-present  fear  of 

being  trampled  upon  and   flung  into  the  common   servitude 

Far  below  the  middle  class  again,  and  in  the  deepest  misery  and 
degradation,  were  the  toilers  of  the  soil — the  natives,  Aztecs,  Toltecs, 
Mayas,  and  other  allied  races — immensely  outnumbering  the  two 
other  classes,  but  powerless  in  their  ignorance  and  disorganization." 
("The  Mexican  People — ^their  struggle  for  Freedom,"  by  L.  Gutierrez 
De  Lara  &  Edgcumb  Pinchon.) 

The  land  was  in  the  hands  of  a  very  few.  The  Church  of  Rome 
was  the  greatest  land-owner,  with  the  Spanish  landed  aristocracy  next. 
Bancroft  in  his  "History  of  Mexico,"  vol.  13,  p.  704,  says  the  clergy 
"made  the  natives  toil  for  them  without  payment."  There  were  no 
schools  for  the  peons.  If  ill  "there  were  for  them  but  two  or  three 
miserable  hospitals  in  all  Mexico,  and  in  these  they  did  but  only  die 
of  starvation  and  mistreatment." 

THE  REVOLUTION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

"By  the  year  1808  conditions  in  colonial  Mexico  had  become  so 
intolerable  for  the  great  mass  of  people  that  revolutionary  symptoms 
began  to  appear  simultaneously  in  all  parts  of  the  country"  ("Mexican 
People").  On  September  15,  1810,  revolution  broke  out  in  Dolores, 
State  of  Guanajuato,  headed  by  the  revolutionary  priest  Miguel 
Hidalgo.  It  was  "essentially  an  agrarian  revolution."  For  the  peons 
it  was  a  struggle  for  the  ownership  of  the  land  and  not  merely  for 
political  change.  As  far  as  the  peons  were  concerned  the  revolution 
failed.  The  trinity  of  privilege  in  Mexico — the  Church,  Army  and 
Aristocracy — succeeded  in  sidetracking  the  agrarian  revolution  of  the 
toilers  of  the  soil  and  making  of  it  one  for  mere  political  change. 
After  ten  years  struggle  Independence  from  Spain  was  accomplished, 
but  instead  of  it  being  Independence  and  the  Land,  for  which  the 
peorts  under  Hidalgo  and  Mcrelos  had  struggled,  it  became  Independ- 
ence and  Privilege.  The  trinity  of  privilege  still  held  the  reins  of 
power,  and  "In  the  fields  toiled  the  peons,  still  tilling  the  land  from 
dawn  till  dusk,  under  the  lash  of  the  master,  still  enduring  the  pangs 
of  hunger  and  the  darkness  of  ignorance — and  now,  sunk  in  unspeak- 
able despair  before  the  wreck  of  all  their  high  hopes." 

"The  Monitor,"  official  organ  of  the  Archdiocese  of  San  Francisco, 
in  its  issue  of  August  23,  1919,  says:  "Mexico  has  never  been  a  real 
republic  or  enjoyed  democratic  institutions  since  the  overthrow  of 
the  Spanish  Government  at  the  beginning  of  last  century.  It  has 
experienced  revolution  after  revolution  and  government  by  bandits 
during  the  last  one  hundred  years.  The  only  times  of  stable  govern- 
ment were  when  autocrats  like  Diaz  ruled  with  a  rod  of  iron  and 
kept  the  bandits  down." 


THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  5 

CATHOLIC    CHURCH     INTRIGUES 

Yes,  for  the  last  one  hundred  years  Mexico  has  experienced  revolu- 
tion after  revolution,  but  why?  This  organ  of  the  Catholic  Church 
neglected  to  tell  its  readers  the  part  played  by  the  clergy  during  that 
period.  Nothing  is  said  about  the  clerical  intrigues  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  monarchy,  after  the  war  with  the  United  States,  the  bringing 
about  of  which  the  Church  played  a  leading  part  in  Mexico.  The 
intrigues  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Mexico  were  also  largely  respons- 
ible for  the  Texas  war  in  1835.  If  the  hand  of  the  Church  had  been 
kept  off  the  revolution  in  1810  Mexico  would  probably  not  have  "ex- 
perienced revolution  after  revolution  during  the  last  one  hundred 
years."  Study  Mexican  history  for  the  last  century  and  you  will  find 
the  Catholic  Church  intriguing  to  establish  a  monarchy  with  Lucas 
Alaman,  the  "man  of  the  black  brains,"  as  the  leader  of  the  con- 
spiracy. You  will  find  the  clergy  inviting  foreign  Intervention  in  order 
to  hold  their  power  over  the  peons.  The  French  intervention  of  1861- 
65  was  partly  on  behalf  of  the  Catholic  Church.  You  will  also  find 
the  clergy  preaching  sedition,  intriguing  in  all  manners  to  keep  their 
power  over  the  peons  and  to  maintain  the  privileges  of  the  Church, 
making  and  unmaking  governments,  and  ever  siding  with  the  ex- 
ploiters and  oppressors  of  the  working  people,  "Out  of  the  cloisters 
sprang  ail  the  cuartelazos  which  had  flayed  the  common  people;  out 
of  the  cloisters  sprang  all  the  misery  and  poverty  of  the  common 
people,  their  degradation  and   national   disgrace." 

The  recent  revolution  in  Mexico,  1910-14,  was,  as  In  the  case  of 
the  Revolution  of  Independence,  an  agrarian  revolution.  The  demo- 
cratization of  the  land  was  its  central  purpose.  In  the  recent  revolu- 
tion the  peons  called  themselves  Constitutionalists,  that  is,  their  plan 
was  to  restore  the  Constitution  of  1857.  This  is  one  of  the  most  dem- 
ocratic constitutions  ever  estabished  in  any  country.  It  meant  the 
emancipation  of  the  peons  and  tha  end  of  exploitation  and  oppression 
of  the  Mexican  toilers.  A  reading  of  its  articles  leaves  one  with  a 
realization  that  those  responsible  for  its  formulation  were  anything 
but  "ignorant  Indians  incapable  of  self-government."  Under  Juarez 
this  constitution  was  put  into  effect  as  fully  as  possible  with  an  in- 
triguing Church  and  other  interests,  both  domestic  and  foreign,  to 
contend  with. 

THE    CONSTITUTION    OF    1857 

"The  Constitution  of  1857  is  the  exact  expresston  of  the  aspira- 
tions of  the  Mexican  people  as  distinguished  from  the  Church,  Army, 
and  Aristocracy  ...  It  is  the  first  Constitution  of  the  People,  the 
first  expression  of  a  pure  democracy — as  opposed  to  a  bogus  democ- 
racy, the  first  national  enunciator  of  the  principle  that  the  foundation 
of  all  social  institutions  is  the  Rights  of  Man — as  directly  and  unalter- 
ably opposed  to  the  Rights  of  Property."     (Mexican  People.) 

In  the  first  article  of  the  Constitution  the  rights  of  man  are  set 
forth  as  the  foundation  of  social  institutions:    "The  Mexican  people 


6  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO 

recognize  that  the  rights  of  men  are  the  foundation  and  the  purpose 
of  social  institutions.  In  consequence  they  proclaim  that  all  the  laws 
and  authorities  of  the  country  must  respect  and  sustain  the  warranties 
stipulated  by  this  Constitution." 

"In  the  Republic  everyone  is  born  free" — so  reads  the  second 
article. — "The  slaves  who  step  into  the  national  territory  recover  their 
liberty  by  this  mere  fact,  and  have  the  right  of  the  protection  of  the 
law." 

In  Mexico  at  this  time  serfdom  prevailed,  and  this  article  was 
framed  to  abolish  serfdom  and  free  the  serfs  who  were  virtually  con- 
sidered as  property  of  the  estates. 

The  second  part  of  the  article  referred  to  the  fugitive  slaves  from 
the  United  States.  You  will  recall  that  chattel  slavery  prevailed  at 
that  time  in  the  superior  and  enlightened  Southern  States,  and  this 
article  was  framed  to  grant  freedom  to  the  slaves  who  dared  flee  from 
their  beneficent  masters. 

The  third  article  declares  all  education  to  be  free.  Later  it  was 
amplified  to  make  education  "universal,  free,  non-sectarian,  and  com- 
pulsory." "The  Catholic  schools  of  Mexico  were  sorry  institutions, 
and  even  such  rudimentary  education  as  they  gave  was  restricted  to 
the  rich.  For  the  poor  there  was  nothing  but  the  most  complete 
illiteracy." 

Article  4  reads:  "Every  man  is  free  to  adopt  the  profession,  trade, 
or  work  that  suits  him,  it  being  useful  and  honest;  and  to  enjoy  the 
product  thereof  .  .  ,  ." 

This  article  was  framed  with  the  view  to  breaking  the  bonds  of 
peonage  and  recognizing  the  "right  of  the  people  to  the  enjoyment  of 
the  full  product  of  their  labor." 

So  terrible  had  been  the  experiences  of  the  peons  at  the  hands 
of  their  masters  that  the  Constitution  of  1857  was  framed  with  the 
purpose  of  making  impossible  a  repetition  of  those  bitter  experiences, 
and  each  article  was  written  with  the  purpose  of  abolishing  some  evil 
that  cursed  the  country  or  declaring  some  principle  or  right  to  be 
necessary  to  a  just  social  order.  In  the  fifth  article  we  read:  "No  man 
shall  be  compelled  to  work  without  his  plain  consent  and  without  just 
compensation.  The  state  will  not  permit  to  become  effective  any 
contract,  pact  or  agreement  with  the  purpose  of  the  curtailment,  the 
loss,  or  the  irrevocable  sacrifice  of  the  liberty  of  any  man,  may  the 
cause  be  for  personal  labor,  education,  or  religious  vows.  The  law 
in  consequence  does  not  recognize  monastic  orders,  and  will  not  permit 
their  establishment,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  denomination  or  pur- 
pose lor.  which  they  pretend  to  be  established.  Neither  will  be  per- 
mitted a  contract  or  agreement  by  which  a  man  makes  a  pact  for  his 
proscription  or  exile." 

"The  monastic  orders  were  suppressed  (because  bitter  experience 
had  proved  them  to  be  an  unmitigated  evil,  the  breeding  grounds  of 
sedition,  oppression,  exploitation,  and  social  depravity.  The  basic 
immorality  of  a  parasitic  life  further  undermined  their  common  integ- 
rity and  it  was  a  normal  consequence  that  the  parasite  and  sexual 


THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  7 

pervert   should    become   the    traitor   and   the   intriguer."      ("Mexican 
People.") 

The  right  of  free  speech  and  press  was  established  by  articles 
6  and  7.  "The  liberty  of  writing  and  publishing  writings  upon  any 
matter  in  inviolable.  No  previous  censorship  nor  imposition  of  bonds 
upon  the  writers  nor  the  publishers  for  the  purpose  of  curtailing  the 
freedom  of  the  press  can  be  established  by  any  law  or  authority,  such 
freedom  being  restricted  to  respect  of  private  life,  morals,  and  public 
business."     (Article  7.) 

Article  13  reads:  "In  the  Mexican  Republic  no  one  shall  be  sub- 
jected to  private  laws  nor  special  courts.  No  man  or  corporation  shall 
enjoy  fueros  nor  receive  emoluments  unless  they  be  a  compensation 
for  public  services  and  already  fixed  by  law." 

In  Mexico  at  that  time  the  ecclesiastical  and  military  authorities 
considered  themselves  immune  from  the  civil  law — and  they  acted 
accordingly.  For  forty-seven  years  previous  to  this  time  ecclesiastical 
and  military  fueros  had  cursed  the  country — hence  this  article  abol- 
ishing them. 

"No  man  shall  receive  emoluments,"  was  written  in  this  article  in 
order  to  abolish  the  rents,  tributes,  tithings,  and  taxes  which  the  clergy 
received  from  the  poor  and  "also  the  universal  practice  of  the  clergy 
of  extorting  the  last  ceatavo  from  the  dying  peon  and  his  superstitious 
relatives  under  threat  of  the  law,  and  the  still  more  terrifying  threat 
of  refusing  the  last  unction." 

By  Article  27  the  vast  illicit  holdings  of  the  Church  were  put  at 
the  disposal  of  the  people:  "...  Religious  corporations  and  institu- 
tions, no  matter  of  what  denomination,  character,  durability,  or  pur- 
pose, and  civil  corporations  when  under  the  patronage,  direction,  or 
superintendency  of  religious  institutions,  or  ministers  of  any  cult, 
shall  not  have  the  legal  capacity  to  acquire  or  manage  any  real  estate 
except  the  buildings  which  are  used  immediately  and  directly  for  the 
services  of  the  said  institutions;  neither  will  the  law  recognize  any 
mortgage  on  any  property  held  by  these  mstitutions." 

Article  28  reads:  "State  and  Church  are  independent.  Congress 
cannot  make  any  law  establishing  or  forbidding  any  religion.  ..." 

PRIVILEGE    AND   THE   CONSTITUTION 

"From  the  moment  when  this  Constitution  was  proclaimed  the 
peons  began  to  take  full  advantage  of  it" — and  the  Church  and  Army 
began  to  fight  it.  According  to  the  Catholic  historian  Zamacois,  "The 
Archbishop  of  Mexico,  Don  Lazaro  de  la  Garza,  announced  in  circulars 
sent  to  the  bishops  a  few  days  after  the  order  for  the  taking  of  the 
oath  (Secretary  of  the  Interior's  order  to  all  government  employees 


8  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO 

to  take  the  oath  of  obedience)  had  been  given,  that  since  the  articles 
of  this  Constitution  were  inimical  to  the  institution,  doctrine,  and  rites 
of  the  Catholic  Church  neither  the  cler3:ymen  nor  laymen  could  take 
this  oath  under  any  pretext  whatever  .  In  view  of  this  communication 
the  bishops  of  all  the  dioceses  sent  circulars  to  their  respeciive  country 
vicars  and  the  parish  curates,  and  to  the  other  ecclesiastics,  inform- 
ing them.  First:  That  it  was  not  lawful  to  swear  allegiance  to  the 
Constitution  because  its  articles  were  contrary  to  the  institution, 
doctrine  and  rites  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Second:  That  this  com- 
munication must  be  made  public,  and  copies  of  it  distributed  as  widely 
as  possible;  and  that  they  must  notify  the  government  of  their  action." 
(Zamacois,  "Historia  de  Mejico.") 

"To  a  devoutly  Catholic  population  these  orders  were  disturbing 
enough.  Torn  between  their  opposing  political  and  religious  beliefs, 
they  hesitated  and  fell  into  the  utmost  confusion.  Even  so,  political 
good  sense  undoubtedly  would  have  won  the  day  in  the  teeth  of  the 
Church  had  not  a  tremendous  mandate  come  to  them  from  the  Pope 
of  Rome,  the  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth,  to  disobey  utterly  and  com- 
pletely all  the  commands  of  the  impious  Liberal  government " 

("Mexican  People").  This  long  document  from  Pope  Pius  IX  con- 
cludes as  follows:  "Thus  we  make  known  to  the  faith  in  Mexico,  and 
to  the  Catholic  universe,  that  we  energetically  condemn  every  decree 
that  the  Mexican  Government  has  enacted  against  the  Catholic  re- 
ligion, against  the  Church,  and  her  sacred  ministers  and  pastors, 
against  her  laws,  rights,  and  property,  and  also  against  the  authority 
of  this  Holy  See.  We  raise  our  Pontifical  Voice  with  apostolic  freedom 
before  you  to  condemn,  reprove,  and  declare  null,  void,  and  without 
any  value,  the  said  decrees,  and  all  others  which  have  been  enacted 
by  the  civil  authorities  in  such  contempt  of  the  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity of  this  Holy  See,  and  with  such  injury  to  the  religion,  to  the  sacred 
pastors,  and  illustrious  men.  For  this  we  command  that  those  who 
have  contributed  to  the  fulfillment  of  the  said  decrees  by  action,  ad- 
vice, or  command  shall  seriously  meditate  upon  the  penalties  and 
censures  imposed  by  the  apostolic  constitutions,  and  by  the  canons 
of  the  councils  against  the  violators  of  sacred  persons  and  things, 
against  the  violators  of  the  ecclesiastical  liberty  and  power,  and 
against  the  usurpers  of  the  rights  of  this  Holy  See."  ("Mexico  a  traves 
de  los  Siglos,"  vol.  5,  p.  226.) 

"The  papal  mandate  fell  like  a  bomb  upon  the  people  of  Mexico." 
"The  Pope's  mandate,  as  we  have  seen,  was  no  half-hearted  affair.  On 
the  contrary  it  condemned  to  destruction  the  whole  glorious  edifice 
of  human  liberty  reared  at  the  cost  of  such  tremendous  sacrifice  in 
the  Constitution  of  1857." 

The  Constitution  took  effect  on  Sept.  16,  1857,  and  the  "next  day 
Felix  Zuloaga,  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  army,  headed  a  powerful 
cuartelazo  against  the  government,  proclaiming  that  the  constitution 
was  not  acceptable  to  the  nation,  and  that  it  was  therefore  abrogated. 


THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  9 

..."  The  fight  against  the  government  forces  raged  for  two  days 
in  Mexico  City.  "Then,  as  in  the  revolt  of  1847,  the  friars  patrolled 
the  trenches  of  the  revolting  soldiery,  exciting  them  to  the  fight;  then, 
as  in  that  other  epoch,  the  clergy  paid  the  wages  of  the  troops,  and 
their  agents  were  bribing  the  officers  of  the  government  that  swelled 
the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  The  city  was  deserted ;  at  night  time  the  onlj'- 
light  was  the  blaze  of  the  artillery  fire  and  the  sinister  flashing  of 
the  bombs;  in  every  street  there  were  ^breastworks,  and  from  every 
door  came  forth  the  groans  of  the  dying  and  the  moans  oC  the 
wounded."     (Gustavo  Baz,  "Vida  de  Juarez.") 

"The  reaction  was  victorious  in  the  capital,  and  the  wickedness  of 
one  man  and  the  ambitions  of  others  had  provoked  a  civil  war  that 
was  destined  to  last  until  the  extermJnation  of  one  of  the  contending 
factions.  The  joyous  clamoring  of  the  bells,  the  majestic  music  of 
the  Te  Deum,  the  rejoicing  of  the  Clericals  everywhere,  and  the 
drunkenness  of  the  soldiery,  welcomed  that  \ictory  of  fraud,  ambition, 
and  reaction  .  .  .  ."     (Gustavo  Baz.) 

Shortly  after  this,  however,  Benito  Juarez,  the  representative  of 
the  people  as  against  the  forces  of  reaction  and  privilege,  was  recog- 
nized by  Congress  as  lawful  President,  he  having  been  President  of 
the  Supreme  Court  and  Vice-President  of  the  Republic. 

Now  began  again  the  struggle  between  the  trinity  of  privilege  and 
the  masses;  oppressor  against  oppressed.  "On  one  side  were  the  revo- 
lutionists.  armed  with  ihe. buckler  of  legal  power  and  ready  to  shed 
their  blood  for  freedom  of  thought  and  speech,  for  the  suppression  of 
the  monasteries,  the  confiscation  of  the  ecclesiastical  estates,  the  sup- 
port of  the  civil  power  as  the  only  recognized  authority  in  society,  and 
for  the  upholding  of  the  complete  equality  of  men  and  liberty  and  civil- 
ization of  the  Republic.  On  the  other  side  were  the  Clergy  and  the 
Army  toanded  together  to  re-establish  a  government  born  of  treason 
and  mutiny,  to  re-enforce  all  the  abuses  that  were  left  as  a  legacy  to 
Mexico  by  the  colonial  regime,  and  to  proclaim  as  invulnerable  and 
divine  rights  the  rule  of  the  clergy,  the  army  fueros,  and  the  inviola- 
bility of  the  Church  estates,  and  damning  as  heresy  the  freedom  of 
conscience  and  the  equality  of  men. 

"The  revolution  was  a  genuine  social  revolution;  it  was  a  struggle 
to  overthrow  many  years  of  deeply  entrenched  interests,  three  cen- 
turies of  prejudice,  and  ideas  as  old  as  the  world,  as  old  as  fanaticism 
and  liberty.  The  programme  of  the  one  element  was  to  destroy  in 
order  to  create;  the  programme  of  the  other  to  conserve  in  order  to 
destroy."   (Gustavo  Baz,  "Vida  de  Juarez.") 

In  1861  the  Constitutionalist  Army  entered  Mexico  City  and  on 
January  11th  of  that  year  Juarez  and  his  cabinet  re-established  con- 
stitutional rule  in  Mexico.  And  this  in  spite  of  papal  bulls  and  ex- 
communications by  the  clergy! 


10  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO 

But  this  young  democracy  was  a  challenge  to  the  capitalisnn  of 
the  world — It  had  to  be  destroyed! 

"On  the  11th  of  June,  1861,  Juarez  was  proclaimed  constitutional 
President  of  Mexico,  and  on  the  31st  of  October  of  the  same  year, 
France,  England  and  Spain  signed  a  contract  in  London  pledging 
themselves  to  a  joint  invasion  of  Mexico  for  the  purpose  of  over- 
throwing the  constitutional  government,  and  establishing  in  its  place 
a  monarchy,  supported  by  bayonets."     ("Mexican  People.") 

"On  the  2nd  of  January,  1862,  the  fleets  of  the  three  allies  entered 
the  harbor  of  Vera  Cruz."  Finally,  after  Juarez  had  officially  recog- 
nized the  financial  claims  against  Mexico  by  the  allies,  England  and 
Spain  withdrew  from  the  intervention,  but  the  French  remained. 
Maximilian,  an  Austrian  prince,  was  offered  the  emperorship  of  Mexico 
by  Napoleon  III  of  France,  and  on  Decemlber  12,  1864,  he  entered 
Mexico  City. 

After  playing  into  the  hands  of  the  trinity  of  privilege  Maximilian 
was  imprisoned  and  later  shot  on  May  19,  1867.  And  on  July  15,  1867, 
President  Juarez,  with  his  cabinet,  entered  Mexico  City.  Intervention 
was  at  an  end,  and  now  began  the  work  of  reconstruction. 

PORFIRIO    DIAZ— THE    DESPOILER 

Many  eulogists  of  Porfirio  Diaz  and  his  system  have  sought  to 
make  the  people  of  America  believe  that .  Diaz  was  the  "Maker  of 
Mexico,"  and  the  strong  man  needed  to  keep  an  ignorant  Indian  popu- 
lation in  order.  Under  Diaz,  they  say,  the  country  was  at  peace,  the 
bandits  were  kept  down,  capital  was  safe,  and  the  country  prospered. 
Yes,  but  at  what  a  price!  Capitalism  is  materialism,  and  these  wor- 
shipers at  the  shrine  of  mammon  never  for  a  moment  consider  the 
human  side  of  the  picture.  Far  from  being  the  maker  of  Mexico,  Diaz 
was  its  Despoiler.  Under  Diaz  and  his  upholders,  the  same  old  trinity 
of  privilege  we  have  seen  before,  together  with  foreign  speculators 
and  concessionists,  slavery  thrived,  and  conditions  for  the  peons  were 
perhaps  more  intolerable  than  during  the  colonial  period  with  its 
Inquisition  and  other  horrors.  But  the  country  prospered,  we  are  told! 
Capital  was  safe,  and  foreigners  did  not  have  to  keep  awake  nights 
fearing  that  the  coming  of  dawn  would  find  them  dispossessed.  Now, 
let  us  look  at  the  other  side  of  the  picture  and  see  the  condition  of 
the  toilers  under  this  most  beneficent  regime  of  Porfirio  Diaz. 

After  the  Ayutla  Revolution,  which  broke  out  in  1854,  and  which 
gave  to  Mexico  the  Constitution  of  1857,  many  of  the  peons  became 
independent  farmers.  During  the  agrarian  democracy  of  1867-76,  a 
million  peons  became  farmers  upon  their  own  land.  Education  was 
fostered.  The  building  of  the  national  railroads  was  started.  Juarez 
"aimed  at  the  national  construction,  ownership,  and  operation  of  all 
the  means  of  transportation  and  communication  within  the  country." 
That  curse  of  modern  Mexico,  the  foreign  speculator  and  concessionist. 


THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  11 

was  shut  out.  Mexico  was  saved  from  the  landed  aristocracy,  the 
military  despots,  and  the  clutches  of  the  Catholic  Church — for  a  time! 

But  what  was  the  cause  of  the  setback  of  this  young  democracy? 
Why  did  it  not  grow  a,nd  thrive?  Why  were  the  high  and  noble  hopes 
of  the  peons  crushed?  This  young  thing  that  had  been  inspired  by  the 
Spirit  and  religion  of  liberty,  equality  and  fraternity,  that  had  dared 
to  stay  the  hand  of  oppression  and  exploitation,  that  had  tasted  the 
sunshine  and  glory  of  the  new  day,  met  with  a  violent  death.  To  Diaz 
and  his  soldiery,  representing  international  capitalism — American, 
British  and  French  railroad  and  industrial  speculators  and  concession- 
seekers — must  be  laid  the  responsibility  for  the  death  of  the  develop- 
ing agrarian  democracy.  | 

Porfirio  Diaz  was  a  military  officer  under  Juarez.  Seeing  that  he 
would  make  a  willing  tool,  those  interested  in  exploiting  the  labor  and 
resources  of  Mexico  helped  Diaz  to  overthrow  the  constitutionalist 
rule  and  establish  himself  as  dictator  of  the  country.  In  3876  the  Diaz 
cuartelazo  took  place  and  triumphed,  not  because  of  its  strength  -or 
popularity,  but  because  of  the  fear  of  the  people  of  United  States 
intervention.  "Thus  we  have  Porfirio  Diaz  President  of  Mexico  by  the 
grace  of  American  Big  Business  through  the  Immediate  instrumental- 
ity of  an  unpopular  army  revolt,  and  as  a  direct  result  of  the  national 
fear  of  United  States  intervention.  Consequently,  from  the  day  of  his 
entry  into  Mexico  City  in  1876,  to  the  day  of  his  flight  to  Paris  In 
1910,  thirty-four  years  Jater,  Diaz  was  supported  POSITIVELY  by  the 
psychological  power  of  the  clergy  and  the  subsidized  press,  by  the 
physical  power  of  the  Army,  and  by  the  economic  power  of  the  United 
States  and  Europe;  NEGATIVELY  by  the  impotence  of  the  people  in 
face  of  an  ever  impending  United  States  invasion."  ("Mexican 
People.") 

During  the  dictatorship  of  Diaz  the  people— something  like  two 
millions — were  evicted  from  their  lands.  Peonage  was  re-established 
and  wage  slavery  was  of  the  most  abject  character. 

EVICTION    OF    THE    SMALL    FARMERS 

Mexico  certainly  prospered  under  Diaz — for  the  few,  the  land- 
owners, speculators  and  concessionists.  The  following  paragraphs  from 
"The  Mexican  People"  illustrate  the  methods  of  Diaz  and  his  soldiery 
in  evicting  the  small  farmers  from  their  lands  and  turning  it  over  to 
the  big  landowners  and  so  making  the  country  prosperous! 

"One  day  (in  1885)  a  party  of  surveyors  appeared  in  the  valley 
(Papantla  in  the  State  of  Vera  Cruz)  with  their  transits.  The  people 
knew  only  too  well  the  meaning  of  this  invasion,  and,  filled  with  fore- 
boding, they  protested  to  the  surveyors  that  they  had  no  desire  to  have 
their  lands  measured  even  if  the  government  had  ordered  it,  for  those 
lands  were  their  private  property  by  the  warranty  of  the  Constitution. 
The  surveyors  persisted  and  the  next  day  appeared  with  a  posse  of 
rurales.    Again  the  people  protested,  but  this  time  they  were  silenced 


12  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO 

by  force,  and  in  the  clash  that  ensued,  several  lives  were  lost  on 
both  sides. 

"Pour  days  later  a  force  consisting-  of  several  thousand  rurales 
and  a  division  of  the  army  entered  the  valley  and  began  the  system- 
atic extermination  of  the  population.  How  many  were  killed  will 
never  be  known.  About  ten  years  ago  in  the  course  of  our  investi- 
gations we  visited  this  valley  and  endeavored  to  elicit  some  details 
of  the  affair  from  the  people.  Neither  man,  woman,  nor  child  could 
be  induced  to  say  a  word,  hecause  already  a  number  of  them  had  met 
death,  banishment,  imprisonment,  and  flogging  for  even  speaking  of  it. 
In  spite  of  this  dumbness  of  the  people,  however,  we  obtained  Inde- 
pendent proof  that  for  fifteen  days  the  slaughter  never  ceased,  that 
not  a  man  escaped  alive,  that  only  a  remnant  of  women  and  children 
were  spared,  and  that  the  task  of  burying  the  dead  was  so  great  that 
a  month  after  the  air  for  miles  around  the  valley  was  unbreathable 
owing  to  the  stench  of  the  thousands  of  putrefying  corpses.  Today 
this  whole  region,  where  once  twenty  thousand  peaceable,  industrious 
folk  obtained  a  prosperous  living;  from  the  soil,  belongs  to  a  single 
rich  family. 

"In  Nuevo  Leon,  one  of  those  states  which  by  reason  of  its  great 
agrarian  strength  had  managed  to  retain  a  certain  independence,  the 
local  government  endeavored  to  protect  the  people  in  the  possession 
of  their  lands.  The  speculators,  however,  were  not  to  be  balked  of 
their  prey.  Accordingly  Diaz,  at  their  behest,  dispatched  an  over- 
whelming force  into  the  state,  overthrew  the  authorities  and  again 
accomplished  the  wholesale  eviction  of  the  people  from  their  lands. 

"The  natives  of  Nuevo  Leon,  however — some  of  the  best  fighting 
stock  in  Mexico — violently  resisted  the  government  troops,  and  Diaz 
in  order  to  quell  them  was  compelled  to  resort  once  more  to  the  threat 
of  inviting  United  States  intervention.  The  ruse  was  entirely  suc- 
cessful. Washington  dispatched  troops  to  the  border,  and  the  people 
abandoned  the  fight,  choosing  to  submit  to  wholesale  eviction  from 
their  farms  rather  than  incur  a  new  violation  of  the  fatherland. 

"Following  the  dispossessions  of  Papantla  and  Nuevo  Leon,  the 
entire  State  of  Chihuahua  passed  from  the  possession  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  small  farmers  into  the  possession  of  two  or  three  families 
under  the  leadership  of  one  man — today  (under  Diaz)  the  largest  cattle 
owner  in  the  world " 

The  entire  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  under  Diaz  belonged  to  what 
was  known  as  the  Pearson  syndicate,  headed  by  Wheetman  D.  Pearson, 
now  Lord  Cowdray — ^probably  knighted  by  the  British  Government  for 
his  great  work  of  exploiting  the  resources  and  labor  of  Mexico! 

"The  clergy  had  a  prominent  position  at  the  banquet 

Indeed,  never  had  the  Church  prospered  as  it  had  under  Diaz.  Not 
only  were  the  clergy  given  a  prominent  share  in  the  Mexican  debt 
operations,  and  thus  enabled  again  to  possess  themselves  of  vast  land 
holdings,  but  immense  concessions  of  the  richest  lands  in  Mexico  were 
given  them  from  time  to  time  in  such  quantities,  indeed,  that  the 
Church  in  Mexico  owns  more  land  today   (under  Diaz)   than  at  any 


THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  13 

timo  since  the  Conquest."  ("Mexican  People.")  And  this  in  spite  of 
article  27  of  the  Constitution  of  1857,  which  forbids  "religious  corpora- 
tions or  institutions,  no  matter  of  what  denomination"  from  having  a 
"legal  capacity  to  acquire  or  manage  any  real  estate  except  the 
buildings  which  are  used  immediately  and  directly  for  the  services 
of  the  said  institutions."  The  law  of  December  14,  1874,  is  also 
similar  to  this. 

Says  Enriquez  in  his  biography  of  Diaz:  "General  Diaz  is  the  head 
of  the  Freemasors  in  Mexico.  He  is  of  the  thirty-third  degree  and 
Grand  Commander  for  life.  At  the  same  time  he  is  the  invisible  head 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  its  arch-protector  and  its  director,  influencing 
indirectly  the  appointment  of  bishops  and  archbishops,  and  the  crea- 
tion of  new  dioceses  of  archbishoprics."  (Zayas  Enriques,  "Porfirio 
Diaz.') 

To  those  who  desire  a  first-hand  inside  story  of  conditions  for 
the  toilers  in  Mexico  under  Diaz  just  previous  to  the  revolution  of 
1910,  I  recommend  John  Kenneth  Turner's  book  "Barbarous  Mexico." 
Says  the  author:  "The  real  Mexico  I  found  to  be  a  country  with  a 
written  constitution  and  written  laws  in  general  almost  as  fair  and 
democratic  as  our  own,  but  with  neither  constitution  nor  laws  in 
operation.  Mexico  is  £.  country  without  political  freedom,  without 
freedom  of  speech,  without  a  free  press,  without  a  free  ballot,  without 
a  jury  system,  without  political  parties,  without  any  of  our  cherished 
guarantees  of  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  It  is  a  land 
where  there  has  been  no  contest  for  the  office  of  president  for  more 
than  a  generation,  where  the  executive  rules  all  things  by  means  of  a 
standing  army,  where  political  offices  are  sold  for  a  fixed  price.  1 
found  Mexico  to  be  a  land  where  the  people  are  poor  because  they 
have  no  rights,  where  peonage  is  the  rule  for  the  great  mass,  and 
where  actual  chattel  slavery  obtains  for  hundreds  of  thousands."  This 
was  Mexico  under  Porfirio  Diaz,  "president"  of  Mexico — by  grace  of 
American  Big  Business!  Do  you  wonder  the  slaves,  the  peons, 
revolted? 

YUCATAN    SLAVERY 

During  the  dictatorship  of  Diaz  thousands  of  Yaqui  Indians  of 
Sonora  were  evicted  from  their  lands  and  transported  to  the  slave 
pens  of  the  Yucatan  henequen,  or  sisal  hemp,  plantations.  These 
plantations  were  owned  by  ahout  fifty  henequen  kings  and  were 
worked  by  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  slaves,  Yaquis, 
Koreans,  and  native  Mayas,  or  as  the  planters  called  them  to  get 
around  the  law  which  forbade  slavery,  "laborers  in  enforced  service 
for  debt."  "But  the  fact  that  is  was  not  service  for  debt  was  proven 
by  the  habit  of  transferring  the  slaves  from  one  master  to  another,  not 
on  any  basis  of  debt,  but  on  the  basis  of  the  market  price  of  a  man." 

Writing  in  "Barbarous  Mexico,"  John  Kenneth  Turner  has  the 
following  to  say  about  the  slavery  of  Yucatan  as  it  existed  when  Diaz 
was  in  power  in  Mexico: 


14  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO 

"How  are  the  slaves  recruited?  ...  'It  is  very  easy,'  one  planter 
told  me.  'All  that  is  necessary  is  that  you  get  some  free  laborer  in 
debt  to  you,  and  then  you  have  him.  Yes,  we  are  always  getting  new 
laborers  in  that  way.' 

"The  amount  of  debt  does  not  matter,  so  long  as  it  is  a  debt,  and 
the  little  transaction  is  arranged  by  men  who  combine  the  functions 
of  money  lender  and  slave  broker.  Some  of  them  have  offices  in 
Merida  and  they  get  the  free  laborers,  clerks,  and  the  poorer  class  of 
people  generally  into  debt,  just  as  professional  loan  sharks  of  America 
get  clerks,  mechanics,  and  office  men  into  debt — ^by  playing  on  their 
needs  and  tempting  them.  .  .  . 

"These  money-lending  slave  brokers  of  Merida  do  not  hang  out 
signs  and  announce  to  the  world  that  they  have  slaves  to  sell.  They 
do  their  business  quietly,  as  people  who  are  comparatively  safe  in 
their  occupation,  but  as  people  who  do  not  wish  to  endanger  their 
business  by  too  great  publicity — like  police-protected  gambling  houses 
in  an  American  city,  for  example.  .  .  . 

"These  men  buy  and  sell  slaves.  And  the  planters  buy  and  sell 
slaves.  I  was  offered  slaves  in  lots  of  one  up  by  the  planters.  I  was 
told  that  I  could  buy  a  man  or  a  woman,  a  boy  or  a  girl,  or  a  thousand 
of  any  of  them,  to  do  with  them  exactly  as  I  wished,  that  the  police 
would  protect  me  in  my  possession  of  these,  my  fellow  beings.  Slaves 
are  not  only  used  on  the  henequen  plantations,  but  in  the  city  as  per- 
sonal servants,  as  laborers,  as  household  drudges,  as  prostitutes.  How 
many  of  these  persons  there  are  in  the  city  of  Merida  I  do  not  know, 
though  I  heard  many  stories  of  the  absolute  power  exercised  over 
them.     Certainly  the  number  is  several  thousand.  .  .  . 

"Why  do  the  henequen  kings  call  their  system  enforced  service 
for  debt  instead  of  by  its  right  name?  Probably  for  two  reasons — 
because  the  system  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  milder  system  of  actual 
service  for  debt,  and  because  of  the  prejudice  against  the  word  slavery, 
both  among  Mexicans  and  foreigners.  Service  for  debt  in  a  milder 
form  than  is  found  in  Yucatan  exists  all  over  Mexico  and  is  called 
peonage.  Under  this  system,  police  authorities  everywhere  recognize 
the  right  of  an  employer  to  take  the  body  of  a  laborer  who  is  in  debt 
to  him,  and  to  compel  the  laborer  to  work  out  the  debt.  Of  course,  once 
the  employer  can  compel  the  laborer  to  work,  he  can  compel  him  to 
work  at  his  own  terms,  and  that  means  that  he  can  work  him  on  such 
terms  as  will  never  permit  the  laborer  to  extricate  himself  from  his 
debt.  .  .  . 

"The  slaves  of  Yucatan  get  no  money.  They  are  half-starved. 
They  are  worked  almost  to  death.  They  are  beaten.  A  large  per- 
centage of  them  are  locked  up  every  night  in  a  house  resembling  a 
jail.  If  they  are  sick,  they  must  still  work,  and  if  they  are  so  sick  that 
it  is  impossible  for  them  to  work,  they  are  seldom  permitted  the  ser- 
vices of  a  physician.  The  women  are  compelled  to  marry,  compelled 
to  marry  men  of  their  own  plantation  only,  and  sometimes  are  com- 
pelled to  marry  certain  men  not  of  their  choice.  There  are  no  schools 
for  the  children.    Indeed,  the  entire  lives  of  these  people  are  ordered 


THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  15 

at  the  whim  of  a  master,  and  if  the  master  wishes  to  kill  them,  he 
may  do  so  with  impunity.  I  heard  numerous  stories  of  slaves  being 
beaten  to  death,  but  I  never  heard  of  an  instance  in  which  the  mur- 
derer was  punished,  or  even  an-ested.  The  police,  the  public  pros- 
ecutors, and  the  judges  know  exactly  what  is  expected  of  them,  for 
the  men  v/Lo  appoint  them  are  the  planters  themselves.  .  .  ." 

Now  this  is  all  changed.  Slavery  and  peonage  have  been  abolished 
in  Yucatan  by  the  people  who  rebelled  against  the  tyranny  of  the 
wonderful  "maker"  of  Mexico,  and  one  of  the  most  progressive  govern- 
ments in  Mexico  has  been  set  up. 

Those  who  defend  Porfirio  Diaz  and  his  system  don't  tell  you  about 
these  things.  They  don't  speak  r-f  how  the  government  of  Diaz  set 
about  to  exterminate  the  Yaquis  of  Sonora;  of  how  the  government 
deported  them  to  Yucatan,  and  how  the  authorities  utilized  the  money 
derived  from  their  sale  into  slavsry.  No,  Diaz,  they  tell  us,  was  the 
maker  of  Mexico;  the  country  prospered  under  him — and  doubtless 
many  of  them,  wish  another  Diaz  would  come  along  and  give  them 
back  privileges  taken  from  them  by  the  Constitutionalists. 

John  Kenneth  Turner  reports  the  following  statement  made  to 
him  by  Colonel  Francisco  B.  Cruz  of  Diaz's  army  relative  to  the  selling 
of  the  Yaquis  into  slavery  in  Yucatan: 

"In  the  past  three  and  one-half  years  I  have  delivered  just  fifteen 
thousand  seven  hundred  Yaquis  in  Yucatan — delivered,  mind  you,  for 
you  must  remember  that  the  government  never  allows  me  enough 
expense  money  to  feed  them  properly,  and  from  ten  to  twenty  per 
cent  die  on  the  journey. 

"These  Yaquis  sell  in  Yucatan  for  $65  apiece — men,  women,  and 
children.  Who  gets  the  money?  Well,  $10  goes  to  me  for  my  ser- 
vices. The  rest  is  turned  over  to  the  Secretary  of  War.  This,  how- 
ever, is  oEly  a  drop  in  the  bucket,  for  I  know  this  to  be  a  fact,  that 
every  foot  of  land,  every  building,  every  cow,  every  burro,  everything 
left  behind  by  the  Yaquis  when  they  are  carried  away  by  the  soldiers, 
is  appropriated  for  the  private  use  of  authorities  of  the  State  of 
Sonora."     ("Barbarous  Mexico.") 

Let  it  be  understood  that  the  slavery  in  Mexico  under  Diaz  was 
not  only  the  concern  of  Mexican  landowners.  Americans,  and  others, 
also  were  interested  in  slavery.  "Americans  work  the  slaves — buy 
them,  drive  them,  lock  them  up  at  night,  beat  them,  l^ill  them,  exactly 
as  do  other  employers  of  labor  in  Mexico.  And  they  admit  that  they 
do  these  things.  In  my  possession  are  scores  of  admissions  by  Amer- 
ican planters  that  they  employ  labor  which  is  essentially  slave  labor. 
All  over  the  tropical  section  of  Mexico,  on  the  plantations  of  rubber, 
sugar  cane,  tropical  fruits — everywhere — you  will  find  Americans 
buying,  imprisoning,  killing  slaves."      ("Barbarous  Mexico.") 


16  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO    % 

THE    MEXICO    OF   TODAY 

Now  let  us  consider  the  Mexico  of  today.  Having  revolted  and 
once  more  established  constitutional  rule,  democratized  the  land, 
abolished  slavery  and  peonage,  and  established  freedom  of  press  and 
speech,  the  people  of  Mexico  once  more  find  themselves  face  to  face 
with  threatened  intervention. 

One  of  the  schemes  of  the  interventionists  is  to  try  to  make  people 
believe  that  the  present  constitution  of  Mexico,  known  as  the  Consti- 
tution of  1917,  is  in  no  way  related  to  the  Constitution  of  1857,  but  is 
a  new  one,  framed  mainly  with  the  purpose  of  confiscating  all  prop- 
erty supposedly  belonging  to  foreigners,  Americans  in  particular.  The 
Constitution  of  1917  is  an  evolution  of  that  of  1857;  it  is  a  modification 
and  an  enlargement  of  the  Constitution  of  1857.  It  was  written  with 
the  blood  and  tears  of  the  oppressed  and  exploited  peons  of  Mexico, 
and  it  is  without  a  doubt  the  most  democratic  and  humanitarian 
document  in  the  western  hemisphere;  in  fact,  outside  of  Soviet 
Russia  no  countrj^  in  the  world  has  taken  such  a  step  toward  real 
liberty. 

The  principal  articles  of  the  Constitution  of  1917  are  similar  to 
those  of  the  Constitution  of  1857.  What  should  especially  interest 
the  workers  of  this  and  other  countries,  aside  from  the  principal 
articles,  is  the  great  attention  given  to  labor  and  social  welfare  by 
the  1917  Constitution.     Under  Article  123  we  find  the  following: 

"I — ^Eight  hours  shall  be  the  maximum  limit  of  a  day's  work. 

"II — The  maximum  limit  of  night  work  shall  be  seven  hours. 
Unhealthy  and  dangerous  occupations  are  forbidden  to  all  women  and 
to  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age.  Nightwork  in  factories  is 
likewise  forbidden  to  women  and  to  children  under  sixteen  years  of 
age;  nor  shall  they  be  employed  in  commercial  establishments  after 
ten  o'clock  at  night. 

"Ill — The  maximum,  limit  of  a  day's  work  for  children  over  twelve 
and  under  sixteen  years  of  age  shall  be  six  hours.  The  work  of 
children  under  twelve  years  of  age  cannot  be  made  the  object  of  a 
contract. 

"IV — Every  workman  shall  enjoy  at  least  one  day's  rest  for  every 
six  days'  work. 

"V — Women  shall  not  perform  any  physical  work  requiring  con- 
siderable physical  effort  during  the  three  months  immediately  pre- 
ceding parturition;  during  the  month  following  parturition  they  shall 
necessarily  enjoy  a  period  of  rest  and  shall  receive  their  salaries  or 
wages  In  full  and  retain  their  employment  and  the  rights  they  may 
have  acquired  under  their  contracts.  During  the  period  of  lactation 
they  shall  enjoy  two  extraordinary  daily  periods  of  rest  of  one-half 
hour  each  in  order  to  nurse  their  children. 


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THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  17 

"VI — The  minimum  wage  to  be  received  by  a  workman  shall  be 
that  considered  sufficient,.  .  .  to  satisfy  the  normal  needs  of  the  life 
of  the  workman,  his  education  and  his  lawful  pleasures.  .  .  . 

"VII — The  same  compensation  shall  be  paid  for  the  same  work 
without  j'egard  to  sex  or  nationality. 

"XI — When  owing  to  special  circumstances  it  becomes  necessary 
to  increase  the  working  hours  there  shall  be  paid  as  wages  for  the 
overtime  one  hundred  per  cent  more  than  those  fixed  for  regular  time. 
In  no  case  shall  the  overtime  exceed  three  hours  nor  continue  for 
more  than  three  consecutive  days;  and  no  women,  of  whatever  age, 
nor  boys  under  sixteen)  years  of  age,  may  engage  in  overtime  work. 

"XII — ^In  every  agricultural,  industrial,  mining  or  similar  class  of 
work  employers  are  bound  to  furnish  their  workmen  comfortable  and 
sanitary  dwelling-places  for  which  they  may  charge  rents  not  exceed- 
ing one-half  of  one  per  cent  per  month  of  the  assessed  value  of  the 
properties.  They  shall  likewise  establish  schools,  dispensaries,  and 
other  services  necessary  to  the  community.  .  .  . 

"XIII — Furthermore  ,there  shall  be  set  aside  in  these  labor  centers, 
whenever  their  population  exceeds  two  hundred  inhabitants,  a  space 
of  land  not  less  than  five  thousand  square  meters  for  the  establish- 
ment of  public  markets,  and  the  construction  of  buildings  designed 
for  municipal  services  and  places  of  amusement.  No  saloons  nor 
gambling  houses  shall  be  permitted  in  such  labor  centers. 

"XIV — Employers  shall  be  liable  for  labor  accidents  and  occu- 
pational diseases  arising  from  work;  therefore  employers  shall  pay 
the  proper  indemnity.  .  .  . 

"XV — Employers  shall  be  bound  to  observe  in  the  installation  of 
their  establishments  all  the  provisions  of  law  regarding  hygiene  and 
sanitation  and  to  adopt  adequate  measures  to  prevent  accidents  due 
to  the  use  of  machinery,  tools  and  working  materials.  .  .  . 

"XXII — An  employer  who  discharges  a  workman  without  proper 
cause  or  for  having  joined  a  union  or  syndicate  or  for  having  taken 
part  in  a  lawful  strike,  shall  be  bound,  at  the  option  of  the  workman, 
either  to  perform  the  contract  or  to  indemnify  him  by  the  payment  of 
three  months'  wages.  .  .  ." 

Now,  where  in  these  enlightened  United  States  will  you  find  a 
state  that  has  laws  on  its  statute  books  that  can  favorably  compare 
with  the  aJbove  provisions  of  the  Mexican  Constitution  of  1917?  You 
can't  find  it.  Where  is  there  a  state  in  the  Union  that  has  the  eight- 
hour  law  on  its  books?  Where  is  there  one  that  gives  the  woman 
worker  the  deal  that  the  oft-time  despised  and  "ignorant"  Mexicans 
give  her?  Tell  me  where  in  this  country  above  the  Rio  Grande  a 
woman  worker  gets  equal  pay  for  equal  work  with  a  man.    You  can't 


18  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO 

do  it.  Thousands  and  thousands  of  women  in  the  United  States  are 
occupied  in  similar  work  as  men — and  are  they  getting  equal  pay- 
ment? Most  decidedly  not.  That  is  why  they  are  oftentimes  em- 
ployed— they  can  be  worked  cheaper. 

I  am  not  claiming  perfection,  or  anything  resembling  perfection, 
for  the  Mexican  Constitution,  nor  would  any  intelligent  Mexican  claim 
such,  but  I  do  claim,  and  I  think  intelligent  and  fair-minded  Americans 
will  likewise  claim,  that  the  downtrodden,  exploited  peons  of  Mexico 
have  produced  a  document  written  with  their  blood  and  bitter  tears 
that  surpasses  anything  and  is  a  greater  step  towards  real  liberty  of 
the  People  than  anything  produced  by  any  country  on  the  American 
continent.  In  fact,  as  mentioned  before,  Soviet  Russia,  and  also 
Soviet  Hungary  (which  was  crushed  by  those  who  battled  for  five 
years  to  make  the  world  safe  for  democracy — the  imperialistic  Allied 
Governments) —  these  workers'  Soviet  republics  are  the  only  countries 
that  have  produced  Constitutions  of.  the  People,  as  have  also  the 
Mexican  Revolutionists,  though  not  as  far  advanced  as  the  European 
Revolutionists.  If  the  Mexican  Constitution  has  not  been  put  wholly 
into  effect  the  cause  lies  more  above  the  Rio  Grande  than  below  It.  It 
even  might  have  been  v/orded  stronger  and  made  more  really  man- 
cipating  if  the  Colossus  of  the  North  had  not  been  in  the  minds  of  the 
framers.  If  hands  are  kept  off  Mexico  real  social  and  economic  justice 
will  develop,  with  the  control  and  ownership  of  the  means  of  produc- 
tion in  the  hands  of  the  workers — all  industry  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  do  the  work,  for  the  benefit  of  all,  not  a  few — society  being 
of  such  an  order  that  the  Rights  of  Man  are  supreme  and  not  those  of 
Property.  This  the  upholders  and  disciples  of  capitalism  in  America 
can  see,  and  that  is  one  reason  why  they  demand  intervention. 
Anything  that  threatens  the  Profit  System  must  be  crushed!  Plutoc- 
racy, both  European  and  American,  has  been  touched  at  its  pocket 
nerve — the  reaction  from  which  frequently  causes  the  plutocrat  to 
see  red. 

There  is  an  organization  of  exploiters  of  Mexican  labor  and  re- 
sources, with  headquarters  in  New  York  City,  known  as  the  National 
Association  for  the  Protection  of  American  Rights  in  Mexico.  This 
association,  which  should  be  called  the  Association  for  the  Spreading 
of  Lies  about  Mexico  and  Preaching  of  Intervention,  issues  a  bulletin 
filled  with  carefully  selected  articles  of  misrepresentation,  often  un- 
signed, and  deliberately  published  with  the  purpose  of  inflaming  the 
people's  minds  and  "educating"  them  to  intervention.  This  bulletin 
they  spread  broadcast,  and  their  organizers  go  about  the  country  get- 
ting new  members — chiefly  from  the  ranks  of  the  capitalists  and  their 
retainers — and  pouring  their  poisonous  virus  into  the  minds  of  the 
unwary  and  those  unacquainted  with  the  facts  regarding  Mexican 
affairs. 

I  have  before  me  a  list  of  members  of  this  association  and  on  the 
executive  committee  we  find,  among  others,  the  following:  Edward  L. 
Doheny,  president,  Pan-American  Petroleum  and  Transport  Co.;  Amos 
L.  Beatty,  general  counsel,  The  Texas  Co.;  Walter  Douglas,  president, 


THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  19 

Montezuma  Copper  Co.;  Thomas  W.  Lamont,  member  of  J.  P.  Morgan 
&  Co.;  Chester  O.  Swain,  general  counsel,  Standard  Oil  Co.  of  N.  J. 

In  groups  the  active  members  run  as  follows:  agricultural  and 
cattle;  banking  and  security  holders;  commercial  trading;  industrial; 
mining  and  smelting;  petroleum  and  petroleum  refining;  and  the 
"general  interest"  group,  which  is  composed  of  the  El  Paso  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  Houston  i  hamber  of  Commerce,  and  the  L/)s  Angeles 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  last  mentioned  being  the  most  notorious 
group  of  labor-haters  and  exploiters  in  America. 

This  is  certainly  a  fine  crowd  to  entrust  the  welfare  of  Mexico 
and  its  people  to!  This  is  the  gi'oup  of  labor  exploiters  who  are  so 
concerned  about  carrying  democracy  to  the  downtrodden  peons  who 
are  crying  out  for  a  deliverer,  to  hear  this  association  tell  it. 

American  "rights"  in  Mexico — that  means  capitalist  or  property 
rights.  You  don't  hear  anything  aibout  American  workers'  rights  in 
Mexico — the  noise  is  all  about  property  rights.  There  is  also  some 
noise  about  personal  rights  of  Americans,  but  this  is  merely  a  scheme 
to  hide  the  real  issue.  But  where  did  these  Americans  who  are 
making  all  this  noise  about  their  property  rights  get  these  so-called 
rights  from?  Who  gave  them  these  rights?  How  did  they  come  into 
possession  of  all  this  property,  in  the  interest  of  which  they  are  so 
anxious  to  have  American  workers  drop  their  tools,  shoulder  guns 
and  fight  the  Mexican  workers?  Do  you  suppose  these  Association 
for  the  Protection  of  American  Rights  in  Mexico  people  would  cross 
the  Rio  Grande,  in  the  event  of  intervention,  and  bleed  and  die  for  the 
sake  of  their  property  rights  in  Mexico?  No!  They  want  the  people 
who  have  no  property  in  Mexico — ^the  workers  of  America — to  do  the 
dirty  work  for  them,  while  they  sit  back  and  urge  the  people  on  In 
the  name  of  patriotism  and  democracy! 

Yes,  where  did  they  get  these  "rights"  we  are  hearing  so  much 
about?  Most  of  the  American  concession-holders  and  property-holders 
in  Mexico  got  their  "rights"  from  Porfirio  Diaz.  And  where  did  Diaz 
get  them  from?  He  stole  them  from  the  people — the  peons,  the  small 
farmers.  He  gave  concessions  often  where  he  had  no  right  to  give 
concessions.  Many  an  American  and  British  capitalist  has  made  a 
fortune  from  these  concessions.  Diaz  destroyed  the  existing  agrarian 
democracy  when  he  came  into  power  in  1876,  a  democracy  that  doubt- 
less would  have  developed  and  blossomed  into  genuine  industrial 
democracy  founded  on  social  and  economic  justice,  and  in  its  place  he 
planted  a  despotism  held  together  by  bayonets,  at  the  shrine  of  which 
American,  British  and  other  concession-seekers  and  speculators  wor- 
shipped and  grew  fat  at  the  expense  of  the  toilers  of  the  mines  and 
the  mills  and  the  peons  of  the  soil.  If  an  investigation  were  made,  it 
would  probably  be  found  that  many  of  these  so-called  American  prop- 
erty rights  in  Mexico  are  resting  on  a  pretty  slim  foundation.  Any- 
how, even  though  we  grant  them  all  their  "rights,"  have  not  the 
people  of  Mexico  a  perfect  right  to  determine  how  the  property 
rights  of  the  country  shall  be  administered,  and  just  what  "rights" 
property  has?    If  the  Mexicans  determine  that  all  property  of  a  public 


20  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO 

nature — such  as  the  land,  the  mills,  the  mines,  the  oil  and  other 
mineral  deposits — shall  be  nationalized  or  socialized,  have  they  not  a 
perfect  right  to  do  so?  However  they  determine  the  land  or  oil  de- 
posits, for  instance,  shall  be  worked  or  controlled,  is  their  right. 
If  the  Mexican  Government  determines  that  the  interests  of  the  people 
demand  that  the  oil  deposits  shall  be  nationalized,  it  has  a  right  to  go 
into  the  oil  district  of  Tampico  and  tell  the  American,  British  and 
other  oil  producers  that  from  such  and  such  a  date  the  oil  wells  will 
be  operated  by  the  people  for  the  benefit  of  all  and  not  merely  for  the 
benefit  of  a  few  millionaires  and  their  families,  none  of  whom  live  in 
the  country  but  are  residents  of  other  countries,  busy  in  exploiting 
the  people  of  those  countries  as  they  are  those  of  Mexico.  If  the 
people  of  Mexico  determine  that  the  big  landed  estates  shall  be 
taken  from  the  holders — who  in  the  majority  of  cases  got  the  estates 
illicitly  and  by  eviction  of  the  small  farmers  from  their  land— they 
have  a  right  to  do  so. 

Speaking  of  American  rights  in  Mexico  reminds  me  of  Mexican 
rights  in  the  United  States.  Down  along  the  border  Mexicans,  work- 
ing men  and  women,  are  continually  suffering  from  abuses  of  their 
rights  as  men  and  women  at  the  hands  of  Americans,  some  of  whom 
are  probably  loudest  in  the  cry  for  American  rights  in  Mexico.  In 
Southern  California  Mexican  children  were  so  discriminated  against 
in  certain  public  schools  recently  that  one  Mexican  consul  was  forced 
to  protest  to  the  Governor  of  California.  As  Linn  Gale,  American 
editor  of  Gale's  Magazine  (published  in  Mexico  City)  says,  "President 
Carranza  in  his  message  to  the  Mexican  Congress  a  few  days  ago 
showed  that  Mexico  has  as  much  reason  to  'intervene'  in  the  affairs 
of  the  United  States — if  it  were  big  enough — as  the  United  States  has 
to  interfere  with  the  go\emment  down  here  and  more.  The  list  of 
crimes  committed  against  Mexicans  north  of  the  Rio  Grande  is  an 
indictment  against  the  American  Government  that  is  considerably 
harder  to  explain  away  than  any  complaint  that  has  been  made 
against  the  Carranza  Administration.  The  American  Government, 
considering  the  wealth,  education  and  opportunities  in  the  United 
States,  has  a  rf  cord  black  as  midnight  compared  with  that  of  the 
young,  immature,  but  honestly  struggling  Government  of  Mexico." 

We  are  told  that  Mexico  is  overrun  with  bandits.  We  won't  deny 
that  there  are  bandits  in  certain  parts  of  Mexico,  but  if  it  were  made 
as  difficult  for  the  bandits  to  get  firearms  and  ammunition  as  it  is 
for  the  Carranza  Government,  probably  the  banditry  would  soon  be  a 
thing  of  the  past.  American  ammunition  is  invariably  found  on  cap- 
tured bandits — ^who  knows  but  that  is  part  of  the  plot  to  force  inter- 
vention to  supply  these  bandits  with  ammunition,  and  even  to  make 
bandits? 

Speaking  of  bandits — do  you  know  that  American  and  British  oil 
producers  in  Mexico  employ  a  bandit  band  to  "guard"  their  property? 
So  as  to  keep  the  Carranza  Government  out  of  the  Tampico  oil  dis- 
trict the  bandit  Pelaez  is  paid  a  large  sum  monthly.  L.  J.  de  Bekker, 
writing  in  "The  Nation"  of  July  12,  1919,  makes  the  statement  that 


THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  21 

he  "had  been  told  by  the  American  Embassy  in  Mexico  City  that  the 
oil  men  paid  Pelaez,  for  guarding  their  interests,  $200,000  a  month." 
This  has  been  denied  bv  the  Association  of  Oil  Producers  in  Mexico  in 
a  letter  of  reply  to  "The  Nation,"  July  14,  1919,  in  which  they  said 
that  "Pelaez  naver  got  one-sixth  of  that  amount  for  any  month  from 
the  oil  companies."  So,  you  see,  we  have  their  own  word  for  it  that 
this  bandit  did  receive  money  from  them.  And  that  he  is  guarding 
their  interests  is  made  evident  by  the  following  paragraph  of  the  same 
letter:  "The  article  says:  'King  Pelaez  of  the  oil  fields  considers  it 
a  patriotic  duty  to  blow  up  any  rolling  stock  belonging  to  the  Govern- 
ment.' None  of  Pelacz's  men  operate  anywhere  near  any  railroad. 
It  is  true  bandits,  or  'patriots,'  are  continually  blowing  up  cars  between 
San  Luis  Potosi  and  Tam.pico,  but  'King'  Pelaez  troops  are  operating 
in  the  oil  fields  only,  far  from  any  railroad,  for  the  reason  that  the 
Government  is  attemipting  to  confiscate  their  oil  values." 

The  statement  that  "Pelaez's  troops  are  operating  in  the  oil  fields 
only,  far  from  any  railroad"  is  proven  false  by  Mr.  de  Bekker  who 
says,  "I  have  photographs  of  some  of  the  Pelaez  bandits  swinging 
from  telegraph  pole:^,  where  they  were  hanged  by  Mr.  Carranza's  sol- 
diers. These  photographs,  being  taken  from  the  car  windows,  show 
them  to  have  been  pretty  close  to  the  tracl^." 

HEARST    AND    INTERVENTION 

The  hypocritical  Hearst  press,  which  has  been  engaged  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  in  misrepresenting  the  Mexican  revolution  and  squealing 
eagle  fashion  for  intervention,  makes  much  of  the  fact  that  Americans 
have  been  killed  in  Mexico.  The  country,  say  these  people  with  an  axe 
to  grind,  must  be  cleaned  up  and  responsible,  orderly  government 
established,  or  better  still  annex  it  to  the  United  States. 

Now,  before  the  United  States  undertakes  to  "clean  up"  Mexico, 
how  about  cleaning  up  at  home  first?  What  about  the  recent  race 
riots  in  Washington  and  Chicago?  How  about  the  lynchings  of  the 
enlightened  South?  (I  just  picked  up  a  paper  and  read:  "Five  dead  in 
Knoxville  race  riot."  We  sure  ought  to  restore  order  in  Mexico,  all 
right!)  As  "The  Nation"  remarks  in  its  August  23rd  issue,  "there 
have  been  217  Americans  killed  in  Mexico  since  1911  and  544  Amer- 
icans lynched  within  our  borders  within  that  period  (we  have  no 
record  of  the  number  of  those  killed  in  strikes  and  other  disorders)." 

There  is  a  reason  for  Hearst's  cry  for  intervention — and  it  is  not 
the  one  he  tells  his  readers.  The  Mexican  Herald,  August  24,  1908, 
published  the  following  information,  which  throws  a  light  on  the 
Hearst  screeching  for  intervention:  "With  over  a  million  acres  of  the 
finest  agricultural  and  grazing  land,  with  large  herds  of  blooded  cattle, 
horses  and  sheep,  roaming  over  this  vast  domain,  the  big  Hearst  cattle 
ranch  and  farm  in  Chihuahua  is  the  peer  of  any  such  estate  in  the 
world  whether  it  lies  in  the  green  corn  belt  of  Illinois  or  Kansas,  or 
stretches  for  miles  across  the  wind-swept  prairies  of  Texas  and  Okla- 
homa.   Two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  barbed  wire  fence  enclose  a 


22  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO 

portion  of  this  vast  ranch  and  within  the  enclosure  graze  60,000 
thoroughbred  Herefords,  125,000  fine  sheep,  and  many  thousand  head 
of  horses  and  hogs."  This  land  Hearst  is  "generally  credited  with 
securing  from  the  Mexican  government  (Diaz's)  for  nothing  or 
practically  nothing."  Now,  the  Mexican  revolution  of  1910-14  was,  as 
I  stated  before,  lh  agrarian  revolution  and  you  don't  have  to  stretch 
your  imagination  very  much  to  see  what  would  happen  to  such  estates 
as  Hearst's  if  the  full  purpose  of  the  revolution  were  put  into  effect. 

Another  eagle  screech er  for  intervention  is  the  Los  Angeles  Times. 
Why?    The  same  reason — another  million  acres  of  land. 

Some  of  the  Catholic  clergy  also  want  intervention — to  get  back 
the  Church's  lost  power  in  Mexico.  Some  Catholic  prelates  and  pol- 
iticians in  America  have  worked  and  agitated  for  intervention  ever 
since  1910.  It  has  been  said  that  Felix  Diaz's  counter-revolutionary 
activities  were  backed  partly  by  Catholic  gold,  and  he  is  known  to 
have  received  "through  an  American  prelate,  a  check  for  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  with  which  Don  Felix  was  to  go  to  Havana  to  rally 
his  followers  and  begin  his  preparation  to  start  a  new  revloution." 
This  was  msde  known  by  a  Mexican  Catholic  and  ex-federal  officer, 
S.  Augusto  Zubieta  and  an  affidavit,  written  and  sworn  to  by  him,  as 
to  the  counter-revolutionary  part  played  by  many  Catholic  institutions 
in  America,  follows:  "I,  Salvador  A.  Zubieta,  do  hereby  declare  that 
on  or  about  December,  1914,  and  January,  1915,  I  had  occasion  to  meet 

Cardinal  ,   and   talking  over  the   Mexican   situation,   we 

discussed  several  questions  of  importance,  among  them  the  alleged 
actions  of  Carranza  against  the  Catholic  Church,  and  he  confided  to 
me  that  the  Catholics  in  this  country  were  disposed  to  back  a  new 
revolution,  of  which  Felix  Diaz  was  to  be  the  head.  The  instigator  of 
this    movement    is    the    well-known    murderer,    Cecilio    Ocon,    who 

seems  to  have  gained  the  ear  and  the  confidence  of  Cardinal ; 

the  said  Cardinal  having  believed  unquestionably  all  the  false  repre- 
sentations made  by  this  unscrupulous  murderer.  The  Cardinal  also 
asked  if  I  would  help  in  this,  probably  because  he  thought  my  family 
conections  in  Mexico  and  the  fact  of  my  being  a  Catholic,  would  gain 

some  advantage  to  the  cause.    Cardinal  also  stated  that 

many  Catholic  institutions  in  this  country  were  ready  to  back  this 
movement  with  about  ten  million  dollars. 

"(Signed)  SAL.  AUGUSTO  ZUBIETA. 

"New  York  City,  Feb.  27,  1915. 

"State  of  New  York  i   «<, 

County  of  New  York        /  ^*" 

"Sworn  to  before  me  this  27th  day  of  February,  1915,   (Signed) 
W.  J.  Berow,  Notary  Public,  New  York  County  No.  374,  New  York 
Reg.  No.  5255. 
"(Seal)        WILLIAM  J.  BEROW,  Notary  Public,  New  York  County." 

(This  affidavit  is  copied  from  a  pamphlet  by  Dr.  A.  Paganel,  of 


THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  28 

Mexico  City,  entitled  "What  the  Catholic  Church  has  done  to 
Mexico.") 

The  following  letter  published  in  "Pueblo,"  Vera  Cruz,  March  26, 
1915,  and  sigoed  by  a  number  of  Catholic  priests  in  Mexico,  should  be 
of  interest  to  these  militant  trouble-makers  in  the  United  States  who 
are  agitating  for  intervention: 

"To  Don  Venustiano  Carranza,  Chief  of  the  Constitutionalist  army 
and  in  charge  of  the  Executive  Power  of  the  Union:  'We  the  under- 
signed Catholic  priests  of  the  Archbishopric  of  Mexico,  take  pleasure 
In  stating  that  it  is  with  regret  and  disapproval  that  we  have  seen  a 
number  of  Catholic  refugees  in  foreign  countries,  acting  on  the  advice 
and  under  the  influence  of  an  association  which  with  the  pretext  of 
protecting  the  Catholic  cause,  has  long  been  trying  to  interfere  in  our 
national  affairs,  address  a  petition  to  a  foreign  government  for  the 
protection  of  the  Church  in  Mexico.  We  protest  to  you  that  none  of 
us  have  taken  part  in  these  measures  which  we  consider  anti-patriotic 
an  unnecessary "  (Signed)  Dr.  Antonio  J.  Paredes,  Vicar  Gen- 
eral of  the  Archbishopric  of  Mexico;  Jose  Cortes,  rector;  and  a  number 
of  other  Mexican  and  Spanish  priests." 

U.  S.  GOVERNMENT  INTERFERENCE 

Ever  since  Porfirio  Diaz  was  driven  out  of  power  in  1910  the 
United  States  Government  has  threatened  intervention  and  has  even 
gone  so  far  as  to  send  expeditions  into  Mexico  after  bandits  supplied 
with  American  arms  and  ammunition.  President  Taft  mobilized  troops 
on  the  border  as  a  sinister  hint,  it  seemed,  to  the  revolutionists  and 
to  strike  terror  into  their  hearts.  The  present  Administration's  actions 
are  well  known.  One  day  President  Wilson  is  for  a  thing  and  the  next 
he  changes.  In  Indianapolis,  Jan.  8,  1915,  he  said:  "Until  the  recent 
revolution  in  Mexico  eighty  per  cent  of  the  people  never  had  a  'look- 
In'  in  determining  what  their  government  should  be It  Is  none 

of  my  business  and  it  is  none  of  yours  how  long  they  take  Im  determin- 
ing It.  It  is  none  of  my  business  and  it  is  none  of  yours  how  they  go 
about  the  business.  The  country  is  theirs.  The  government  Is  theirs. 
Have  not  European  nations  taken  as  long  as  they  wanted,  and  spilt 
as  much  blood  as  they  pleased,  in  settling  their  affairs?  And  shall  we 
deny  that  to  Mexico,  because  she  is  weak?    No,  I  say!" 

But  in  a  note  to  Carranza,  June  2  1915,  President  Wilson  has  evi- 
dently expc^rienced  a  change  of  neart:  ".  .  .  I,  therefore,  call  upon 
the  leaders  of  Mexico  to  act.  .  If  they  cannot  accommodate  their 
differences  and  unite  for  this  great  purpose  within  a  very  short  time, 
this  Government  will  be  constrained  to  decide  what  means  should  be 
employed  by  the  United  States  in  orde-^  to  helj)  J.!exico  save  her.sclf 
and  serve  her  people."    We  know  how  Mexico  would  be  helped! 

While  the  present  Administration  has  not  actually  intervened  by 
force  of  arms  it  has  prevented  the  Carranza  Government  from  carry- 


24  THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO 

ing  out  all  the  icforms  of  the  Revoluti-U'  by  its  protestc  Lid  threats 
to  Carranza  whenever  his  Government  contemplated  putting  into  effect 
those  reforms.  Says  John  Kenneth  Turner,  in  the  "Liberator"  of  June, 
1919,  of  the  policy  of  the  Wilson  Government:  "Agrarian  reform  was 
opposed  always.  Representations  were  made  against  Carranza's  orig- 
inal land  decree,  at  the  beginning  of  1915,  and  a  warning  entered 
against  its  application  to  foreigners.  Confiscations  of  vast  holdings 
for  non-payment  of  taxes,  non-compliance  with  the  terms  of  conces- 
sions, or  for  other  reasons,  met  with  repeated  objection.  Even  expro- 
priation of  the  estates  of  counter-revolutionary  plotters  evoked  protests 
against  'any  action  that  savors  of  confiscation.' 

"From  the  beginning,  also,  representations  were  made  against 
every  measure  seeking  to  conserve  the  oil  and  other  mineral  deposits 
for  the  Mexican  people,  or  even  to  tax  oil  or  mineral  properties,  ade- 
quately.    .  . 

"In  the  unending  stream  of  representations  appeared  numerous 
direct  threats  and  ultimatums,  while  resort  was  made  to  various  forms 
of  coercion,  including  naval  and  military  demonstrations.  Hardly  aJi 
Item  of  domestic  policy  escaped  interference,  which  was  invariably  on 
behalf  of  special  privilege. 

"Finally,  the  army  of  the  'punitive  expedition'  was  held  in  Mexico 
for  nine  months  after  the  Villa  chase  was  definitely  abandoned,  nine 
months  after  General  Scott  acting  for  the  United  States,  had  signed 
a  memorandum  to  the  effect  that  the  dispersion  of  the  Villa  bands  had 
been  completed.  Meanwhile,  Franklin  K.  Lane  and  his  associates  on 
the  American-Mexican  Joint  Commission,  were  attempting  to  browbeat 
the  Mexicans  into  yielding  the  guarantees  demanded  by  the  Rocke- 
fellers, the  Guggenheims,  the  Dodges  and  the  Dohenys.  Although,  in 
explaining  the  expedition,  the  President  had  declared  that  the  troops 
would  not  be  used  in  the  interest  of  'American  owners  of  Mexican 
properties'  'so  long  as  sane  and  honorable  men  are  in  control  of  the 
government,'  the  public  statement  of  Lane,  issued  at  the  end  of  No- 
vember (1916),  after  a  long  interview  with  the  President,  was  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  an  acknowledgment  that  the  troops  WERE  being 
held  in  Mexico  for  that  purpose  and  for  no  other,  and  a  threat  that 
they  would  remain  there  until  an  agreement  was  reached  regarding 
such  little  matters  as  oil  and  mining  taxes." 

HANDS   OFF    MEXICO 

Now,  as  I  said  at  the  beginning,  the  cry  of  Wall  Street  and  its 
kept  press  is  for  intervention;  capital,  both  American  and  British,  is 
for  intervention.  The  concessionists,  the  owners  of  large  estates,  the 
mining,  oil  and  railroad  interest,  all  want  a  government  established  in 
Mexico  that  will  enable  them  to  exploit  the  country  and  its  labor  to 
their  heart's  content.  If  the  United  States  did  intervene,  then  probably 
the  cry  would  go  up  for  annexation.  For  the  profitmonger  knows  no 
limit. 


THE  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  MEXICO  25 

The  Mexican  people  will  solve  their  problems  if  outside  govern- 
ments keep  their  hands  off.  Let  it  be  the  business  of  American  Labor, 
of  all  lovers  of  freedom  and  fair-play  to  keep  hands  off  Mexico.  Let 
the  servile  press  howl  for  intervention  as  it  will,  nothing  else  can  be 
expected  of  it.  It  is  capitalism's  mouthpiece  and  a  fawning,  corrupt 
thing! 

Remember  the  noble  words  of  William  Lloj^d  Garrison:  "My  coun- 
try is  the  world;  my  countrymen  are  all  mankind."  The  cause  of  the 
workers  of  one  coimtry  is  the  cause  also  of  the  workers  of  the  rest 
of  the  world.  Those  striving  for  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity  in 
Mexico,  those  striving  for  the  emancipation  of  Labor,  with  all  that 
that  means,  and  those  serving  their  fellowman  in  the  country  below 
the  Rio  Grande  deserve  the  respect  and  help  of  the  workers  in  this 
country  above  the  Rio  Grande.  Let  your  voice  be  heard  in  unmistakable 
terms:   HANDS    OFF    MEXICO  ! 


26  APPENDIX 

WHY  WAR  WITH  MEXICO? 


A   WAR    WITH    pUR    SISTER    REPUBLIC    IS    ALMOST    HERE    AND 
AMERICA    IS    ASLEEP. 


(From  a  Leaflet  issued  by  the  People's  Print,  New  York  City.) 


Do  You  Know: 

1.  That  a  meeting  was  recently  held  in  the  Banker's  Club,  New 
York  City,  between  representatives  of  the  Oil  Interests  in  Mexico  and 
a  leading  religious  organization,  to  map  out  the  compaign  of  spiritual 
uplift  for  our  boys  in  the  inevitable  war  with  Mexico? 

2.  That  a  host  of  translators  and  legal  experts  are  at  work  in 
New  York  City  NOW  to  figure  out  a  method  by  which  certain  enormous 
oil  and  gas  properties  may  nominally  be  held  by  native  dummy-direc- 
tors to  conform  with  Mexican  law,  but  the  real  control  resides  in  Wall 
Street,  New  York? 

3.  That  for  the  last  six  months  higher  officials  of  the  American 
Army  have  been  drawing  up  plans  for  a  Mexican  campaign  by  the 
United  States  troops?  The  correspondent  of  the  "New  York  Times" 
in  Coblenz,  Germany,  asserts  that  the  Army  of  Occupation  has  been 
spending  the  last  six  months  perfecting  plans  for  the  war  with  Mexico. 
He  also  states  that  it  will  be  a  war  conducted  with  all  the  latest  imple- 
ments of  destruction  and  carried  out  on  the  1919  model  of  warfare. 

4.  That  the  British  Government  has  already  taken  over  title  to 
the  oil  holdings  of  its  nationals  in  Mexico,  and  has  thus  perfected  an 
important  step  toward  an  Anglo-American  alliance  to  exploit  our  sister 
nation? 

5.  That  the  most  powerful  banking  groups  in  the  world,  headed 
by  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  and  including  British  and  French 
tiankers,  (besides  other  American  firms,  have  organized  themselves  to 
protect  the  "rights"  of  foreign  investors  in  Mexico? 

6.  That  a  satisfactory  "meeting"  was  held  between  oil  magnates 
and  the  State  Department  on  July  7,  as  a  result  of  which  Wall  Street 
confidently  expects  early  action  to  "stabilize"  Mexico?  (See  "New 
York  Times,"  financial  section,  for  July  8.) 

7.  That  during  the  months  of  April  and  May,  Mexico  City  was  the 
meeting  place  for  trade  ambassadors  from  all  parts  of  the  world? 
These    included    manufacturers,    bankers,    and    engineers    from    the 


APPENDIX  27 

United  States  and  Canada,  from  Great  Britain,  bYance,  Spain,  Italy, 
Holland,  Denmark,  Norway,  Argentina,  and  from  Central  and  South 
America,  and  from  Japan  and  China.  These  men  were  seeking  orders 
and  opportunities  for  investment  and  were  finding  both.  Americaji 
Chamber  of  Commerce  bodies  are  placing  branches  in  Mexico  with 
agents  to  map  out  the  country  with  a  \iew  of  exploiting  her  unlimited 
resources  and  robbing  the  Mexican  paople  of  their  rich  heritage. 

8.  That  the  "New  York  Times"  on  July  9,  declared:  "The  state- 
ment was  made  to  the  New  York  Times  correspondent  by  a  person 
who  is  usually  well  informed  that  President  Wilson  would  soon  appear 
before  Congress  and  make  an  address  on  the  Mexican  problem,  deal- 
ing with  tile  matter  along  the  lines  of  the  McKinley  Message  to  Con- 
gress which  led  to  intervention  in  Cuba?" 

9.  That  "Restore  Law  and  Order"  will  be  the  slogan  of  our  war 
with  Mexico,  just  as  "Making  the  World  Safe  for  Democracy"  was  our 
government's  slogan  for  fighting  the  Germans?  Says  the  "New  York 
Times" — "A  canvas  of  the  situation  seems  to  indicate  that  American 
intervention  in  Mexico,  not  for  the  purpose  of  interfering  with  the 
sovereign  right  of  Mexicans  to  govern  themselves,  but  to  protect  the 
lives  and  rights  of  foreigners  in  Mexico,  and  to  restore  law  and  order, 
may  be  only  a  matter  of  months,  if  not  weeks? 

10.  That  Mexican  oil  stock  advertisements  are  now  appearing 
with  alarming  regularity  on  the  financial  pages  of  New  York  dailies? 
Also  that  engineering  firms  are  advertising  their  services  for  survey- 
ing Mexican  properties? 

11.  That  the  "Society  for  the  I*rotection  of  American  Rights  in 
Mexico"  controlled  by  the  Anaconda  Copper  Company,  the  J.  P.  Morgan 
&  Co.,  and  other  large  corporations  are  looking  up  the  widows  and 
orphans  of  Mexican  border  irregularities  with  a  view  of  producing 
them  in  Washington  as  "exhibits"  for  Congress?  Have  you  ever 
heard  of  the  Anaconda  Copper  Co.  producing  the  victims  of  mining 
conditions  in  Butte,  Montana,  of  the  Deportation  victims  of  Bisbee, 
Arizona,  before  Congress,  with  a  view  of  demanding  "Justice"  for  the 
miners? 

Shall  America's  Youth  be  sacrificed  to  satisfy  the  greed  of  a  Com- 
bination of  Foreign  Exploiters? 

Will  not  American  citizenry  protest  against  this  brazen  plot  to 
stampede  people  into  as  shameful  a  war  war  as  was  ever  planned? 

THE  WAR  CAN  YET  BE  AVERTED  IF  AMERICA  WAKES  UP! 


28  APPENDIX 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  TROPICS 


Wherever  Nature  is  most  bountiful,  there  the  worker 
is  most  exploited  and  oppressed.  The  heavy  hand  of  imi>er- 
ialism  has  been  felt  for  a  long  time  in  all  those  countries 
where  the  sun  shines  strongest  and  where  the  earth  yields 
its  fullest  harvests.  Exploitation  and  oppression  of  the 
most  brutal  nature  have  stalked  through  the  forests,  over 
the  fields,  into  the  villages  and  towns,  and  enslaved,  killed 
and  mutilated.  If  mental  enslavement  in  order  to  enslave 
the  body  were  impossible,  then  the  imperialist  did  not 
hesitate  to  use  force.  Where  imperialism  could  use  a 
tyrant,  as  in  the  case  of  Porfirio  Diaz  in  Mexico,  it  refrained 
from  calling  to  its  aid  the  armed  power  of  its  own  particular 
country.  But  where  a  tool  could  not  be  found  ,then  it  used 
its  own  soldiery — force,  "force  to  the  utmost."  India, 
Egypt,  the  lands  of  the  Congo  in  Africa,  the  Central  Ameri- 
can republics,  and  the  islands  of  the  Caribbean  Sea — the 
toilers  in  these  countries  of  the  tropics  and  semi-tropics 
have  felt  the  slimy,  brutal  hand  of  imperialism  in  all  its 
ruthlessness — and  they  are  still  feeling  it ! 

First  take  the  case  of  India.  Probably  no  worse  crime 
against  native  races  has  been  committed  anywhere  where 
imperialism  has  laid  hands  on.  People  of  the  British 
Empire  are  accustomed  to  hearing  the  praises  sounded  of 
the  wonderful  beneficence  of  British  rule  of  native  races. 
One  of  the  stock  arguments  of  defenders  of  British  rule  is 
that  without  such  rule  the  various  religions  cults  and  castes 
and  races  would  endlessly  fight  among  themselves.  But, 
like  all  disciples  of  economic  injustice  the  world  over,  they 
use  these  excuses  to  fool  those  unacquainted  with  the  facts 
and  to  justify  their  exploitation.  What  a  wonderfully  just 
government  of  a  country  it  must  be  that  makes  not  only 
possible  but  unavoidable  a  periodic  famine  to  stalk  through 
the  land,  cdaiming  its  victims  by  the  millions!  Yes,  and 
millions  under  British  imperialistic  rule  in  India  suffer  from, 
not  only  periodic,  but  daily  starvation  as  well !  This  proves 
without  any  other  evidence — and  there  is  abundance  of  it — 
the  beneficence  of  British  rule ! 


library 

APPENDIX  29 

And  whenever  the  Hindus  get  tired  of  the  beneficence 
of  their  British  masters  and  plan  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of 
imperialism,  the  heavy  mailed  fist  is  used  to  crush  the  dis- 
ciples of  liberty.  When  necessary,  it  reaches  out  across  the 
sea  and  finds  ready  help  from  the  imperialistic  forces  of 
other  countries.  Witness  the  present  United  States  (Govern- 
ment coming  to  the  aid  of  British  imperialism  and  impris- 
oning Hindu  rebels  in  this  country !  If  you  are  a  friend  of 
freedom,  that  should  make  you  think — and  ACT!  These 
men  are  to  be  deported  to  India  where  the  beneficent  British 
Government  will  treat  them  as  becoming  reibels — ^line  them, 
up  and  shoot  them.  You  and  others  can  prevent  this,  if  you 
act  quickly,  just  as  you  can  prevent  the  rape  of  Mexico  by 
the  imperialistic  forces  of  America. 

Imperialism  is  imperialism,  regardless  of  the  flag  under 
which  it  parades.  Stripped  of  all  its  pretenses  it  stands 
forth  as  plain  economic  exploitation  of  the  resources  and 
labor  of  a  country  bv  the  capitalists  of  another  country,  sup- 
ported by  soldiery.  We  often  hear  about  European  imperial- 
ism, but  how  about  American  imperialismi?  All  the  weak 
republics  of  Central  America  are  well  acquainted  with  this 
particular  brand  of  imperialism.  And  the  workers  of  these 
countries  are  among:  the  worst  exploited  and  oppressed  in 
either  North  or  South  America.  When  American  capitalists 
can't  manage  the  native  governments,  they  call  on  the 
United  States  Government  and  soldiers  are  dispatched  to 
the  scene  and  government  bv  foreign  bayonets  is  estab- 
lished. Prdbably  the  United  Fruit  Co.  would  not  be  able  to 
subject  their  workers  in  Central  America  to  such  degrading 
conditions  of  toil  if  it  were  not  for  the  ready  support  it  re- 
ceives from  the  imperialism  of  the  United  States. 

What  right  has  the  United  States  Government  to  med- 
dle in  Costa  Rica?  Why  the  virtual  protectorate  in  Nica- 
ragua? And  how  will  Mr.  Wilson  justify  the  occupation  of 
Santo  Domingo  by  U.  S.  marines  ?  "There  is  no  freedom  of 
the  press,  no  right  of  assembly,  and  the  people  cannot  take 
the  initiative  to  modify  the  situation,''  according  to  Dr. 
Carvajal,  late  President  of  Santo  Domingo.  This  is  another 
matter  that  should  make  people  think — and  ACT  ! 


30  APPENDIX 

Is  true  Freedom  but  to  break 
Fetters  for  our  own  dear  sake, 
And,  with  leathern  heart,  forget 
That  we  owe  mankind  a  debt? 
No !  true  Freedom  is  to  share 
All  the  chains  our  brothers  wear. 
And,  with  heart  and  hand,  to  be 
Earnest  to  make  others  free. 

They  are  slaves  who  fear  to  speak 
For  the  fallen  and  the  weak; 
They  are  slaves  who  will  not  choose 
Hatred,  scoffing,  and  abuse. 
Rather  than  in  silence  shrink 
From  the  truth  they  needs  must  think ; 
They  are  slaves  who  dare  not  be 
In  the  right  with  two  or  three ! 

—JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL. 


APPENDIX  M 

HEARSTONIAN  SOLILOQUY 

By    BERTUCCIO    DANTINO 


Says  one  William  Randolph  Hearst: 

"Mexico  is  quite  accurst 

By  a  dreadful  kind  of  soil 

That  is  full  of  gold  and  oil 

That  we  gentlemen  of  leisure 

Think  was  put  there  for  our  seizure. 

It's  absurd  for  any  Greaser 

To  object  when  we  would  seize  'er. 

That  we  grab  such  land  on  sight 

Is  our  good  God-given  right, 

And  no  ignorant  old  peon 

Has  a  moral  right  to  be  on 

Any  spot   for  which  we  hanker, 

And  some  day  we've  got  to  spank  'er 

If  old  Mexico  impedes  us 

When  we  steal  her  wealth  that  feeds  us. 

"Tho  we  Yanks  are  filled  with  greed, 
If  those  Mexies  will  but  heed  ■ 
We  won't  do  them  any  hurt. 
Only  come  and  take  their  dirt. 
If  those  Mexies  weren't  so  slow. 
And  had  sense  enuf  they'd  know 
Wealth  endangers  all  their  souls! 
(Such  as  gold  and  oil  and  coals!) 
All  such  dangers  we'd  remove, 
And  objectors  we'd  reprove 
By  invading  intervention, 
Which,  you  see,  is  our  intention. 

"Tho  we've  millions  in  our  coffers. 
We  grab  anything  that  offers 
To  enlarge  our  present  holdings; 
Nor  care  we  for  all  the  scoldings 
Of  the  slaves  who  work  for  wages. 
Or  the  soap-box  man  who  rages 
'Gainst  our  looting  our  weak  neighbors. 
Or  the  silly  fool  who  labors. 
Wilson  is  the  mighty  geezer 
We  can  get  to  lick  the  Greaser. 

"Tho  he  kept  us  out  of  war  once, 
Still  he's  onto  all  our  wise  stunts. 


32  APPENDIX 

And  when  we  get  good  and  ready. 
He  will  mind  the  reins  real  steady; 
Jail  the  Dubbs  who  seek  to  check  us, 
And  the  Pacifists  who'd  wreck  us. 

"Baer  was  right  when  once  he  told  us 
In  His  wisdom  God  would  hold  us 
As  custodians  of  all  wealth — 
(We  don't  do  it  for  our  health,) 
But  because  we've  got  the  habit. 
When  we  see  a  good  thing,  grab  it! 
When  w^e  pay  the  priest  for  masses 
It  ensures  us  Heavenly  passes; 
Therefore  tho  we're  rather  slow, 
Soon  we'll  capture  Mexico!" 

— Gale's  Magazine. 


(For  information  about  this  pamphlet  address  Author,  634  13th  St. 
Oakland,  Calif. 

The  International  Presa     <^Bik>  034  13th  St.,  Oakland,  Cal. 


DECC     1919 


maxers 
Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
PAT  JAN.  2  M  908 


m 


